Dementor's Kiss

"You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no...anything. There's no chance at all of recovery. You'll just — exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever... lost."

The Dementor's Kiss is the act of a Dementor sucking out a person's soul. It was sometimes used as a sentence for criminals by the Ministry of Magic, and is considered a fate worse than death. Before Voldemort was in control of the Ministry, the Dementor's Kiss was ordinarily used against those who escaped from Azkaban. When Kingsley Shacklebolt became Minister for Magic after the end of the Second Wizarding War in 1998, Dementors were no longer used by the Ministry of Magic.

Contents

Description

A Dementor's mouth

When the Dementor's Kiss is performed the Dementor will pull back its hood, clamp its jaw around the victim's mouth, and consume his or her soul. The Dementor's Kiss is generally considered to be a punishment worse than death. Victims are left in what Muggles would call a Persistent Vegetative State: empty shells that are still alive but irretrievably "gone". It is impossible to return as a ghost, for the Kiss consumes the soul, and the soul of a person is required in order to become a ghost.[1] There is also the possibility that the soul is trapped inside the Dementor.

Usage

"Ah, vengeance is sweet. How I hoped I'd be the one to catch you... But why deny the Dementors? They're so longing to see you. Do I detect a flicker of fear? Ah, yes. The Dementor's Kiss. One can only imagine what that must be like to endure. It's said to be nearly unbearable to witness, but I'll do my best."

The Dementor's Kiss was occasionally imposed as a sentence for criminals by the Ministry of Magic; as the reformed Ministry stopped employing Dementors as guards of Azkaban after the Second Wizarding War, the Dementor's Kiss was no longer used as a criminal sentence either.

Sirius Black was fated for such a sentence if he was caught after he escaped from Azkaban. Barty Crouch Jr. suffered this when his escape was discovered. The absence of examples of these punishments legally meted for other crimes before Voldemort was in control of the Ministry and the fact that very serious criminals (such as Bellatrix Lestrange) were not sentenced to it, suggest that the crime of escaping from Azkaban was to Kiss a dementor.

During the summer holiday, Harry and his cousin Dudley Dursley were attacked by two dementors in Magnolia Crescent in Little Whinging, secretly sent by Dolores Umbridge to 'silence' Harry of his opposition to the Ministry's stance of denial on Voldemort's return. Were it not for Harry's quick response, both he and Dudley Dursley would have received the Kiss.[3]

Known victims

Narrow escapes

Behind the scenes

A Dementor attempting a kiss on Sirius is witnessed in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which his soul is being sucked out his mouth in the form of a small, glowing, white dot, but the Dementors are fought off by Harry's Patronus before they can finish this. They never needed to clamp their jaws over his mouth.

This may be one of the things that Dumbledore claimed was "worse than death". Given that the soul is someone's self, the loss of his/her soul would make him/her ceased to be. Or, his/her soul is trapped inside the Dementor.